Proposal would allow Sunday car sales in New Jersey, but not Bergen County

Northern Bergen County is a destination for new-car buyers from throughout the metropolitan area, who can flock to a stretch of Route 17 for anything from Hyundai Accents to Lamborghinis and Porsche 911 convertibles, displayed in showrooms that range from flat-roofed bunkers to glassy palaces.

But those dealerships are closed on Sundays, and they would be even without the county’s blue laws. That’s because of a state statute that makes anyone who sells a motor vehicle on the traditional day of rest subject to arrest on a disorderly persons charge. Violators face fines of up to $100 and 10 days in jail for the first offense.

A bill introduced last month by Assemblyman Wayne P. DeAngelo, a Mercer County Democrat, would change that law and permit dealers to open on Sundays throughout most of the state — but not in Bergen County, where the blue laws would still apply.

If the ban is lifted, dealers throughout New Jersey could remain closed on Sunday if they chose to, but competitive pressures might make that difficult.

An end to the law forbidding car sales on Sundays in New Jersey might chip away at the lucrative Bergen market, with neighboring counties grabbing more car sales. Similar legislative battles have played out in other states that have bans on Sunday car sales. A car dealers group in Maine successfully blocked an attempt in 2010 to repeal a car-sales blue law. Car dealers in the southern part of that state had wanted to be open on Sundays because, they said, they were losing sales to dealers in neighboring New Hampshire.

The proposed legislation by DeAngelo comes as the state’s car dealers are seeing a revival in sales. Bergen County dealers sold 80,172 vehicles in 2012, according to automotive data company R.L. Polk & Co., the most in five years.

DeAngelo said the change is supported by carmakers and it would help time-strapped consumers.

“With the challenges families have, running kids around to athletic events and with both parents working during the week, if you need a new car, to fit that in on a Saturday afternoon is next to impossible,” he said.

But some dealers in Bergen County are strongly opposed.

“Sunday is sort of sacred,” said Rick DeSilva, owner of Liberty Hyundai on Route 17 north in Mahwah and Liberty Subaru in Emerson. “We don’t want to work on Sunday.”

James Appleton, president of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, said Friday that he sent a letter to DeAngelo on Thursday expressing the dealers’ opposition. The New Jersey legislator said Friday he had not seen the letter.

Changing the law “is not only unnecessary, it’s unwise,” Appleton said. The group’s 515 member dealerships oppose the measure “without exception,” he said.

“Car dealerships are still primarily family-owned businesses and a day off is treasured by the people who work in the industry,” Appleton said. “You work 12 hours a day, six days a week.”

The expense of being open an extra day would reduce their earnings, and with increased online car shopping, there is really no need to be open seven days a week, Appleton said.

“If New Jersey car dealers thought they could sell one more car a year, they would be lobbying for this bill,” he said. Appleton added that the state loses no taxes on out-of-state sales because car buyers pay their sales taxes to the state where they live.

New Jersey is one of a dozen states that bar Sunday car sales, DeAngelo said.

DeAngelo said the Sunday sales ban goes back to 1937, to “a time and place when society was very different.”

“Manufacturers that I had communication with, they seize any opportunity to sell their vehicles,” DeAngelo said. “You’re finding people in North Jersey and South Jersey going into other states on a Sunday to purchase a vehicle. It makes sense to give people the opportunity to expand the sales of their product.”

The legislator was a co-sponsor of legislation signed into law in 2011 allowing New Jersey motorcycle dealers to sell their products on Sunday.

Lifting the ban on Sunday car sales is the next step, said DeAngelo, an electrician who is assistant business manager for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 269.

Instead of working seven days a week, New Jersey dealers could close on a weekday and stay open Sunday, or they could hire part-time workers for weekends and “give somebody an opportunity to make additional income,” he said.

“Each dealership would have the choice to open on Sundays or remain closed since the legislation gives dealerships the option of making a decision best for their individual business and customer base,” DeAngelo said.

DeAngelo said he is seeking co-sponsors for the bill and if the measure is not addressed in the next session in the fall, it would have to be reintroduced the following year.